2026 POLLS COURT SHOCK! Bugweri Woman Mp Kicked Out Over Academic Papers… Rival Aminah Mutesi Declared Winner Without Fresh Election
Amina Mutesi Nalugoda
The High Court in Iganga has nullified the election of Nankwanga Stella Maris as Woman Member of Parliament for Bugweri District, ruling that she was not academically qualified at the time of her nomination.
In a judgment delivered this afternoon, Justice Simon Peter Kinobe instead declared Aminah Mutesi Nalugoda, the runner-up in the January 15, 2026 parliamentary election, the duly elected Woman MP for Bugweri District.
Nankwanga, an independent candidate, had been declared the winner with 15,151 votes, ahead of Mutesi, of the Alliance for National Transformation, who garnered 13,683 votes and Mercy Walukamba, who came third with 10,767 votes.
But Mutesi filed a petition on March 5, 2026, challenging Nankwanga’s eligibility because she lacked the minimum academic qualification required for a parliamentary candidate: Advanced Level education or its equivalent.
At the centre of the dispute were the academic documents Nankwanga presented to the Electoral Commission during nomination in October 2025. Mutesi argued that Nankwanga’s Post Basic Diploma in Public Health was not recognised by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) as equivalent to an Advanced Level certificate.
She also challenged Nankwanga’s Certificate in Mental Health Nursing, arguing that it had not been accompanied by the NCHE certificate of equivalence required by law.
Nankwanga defended her nomination, insisting that she held qualifications above the required standard. She relied on an Ordinary Level certificate, a Certificate and transcript in Mental Health Nursing from Butabika School of Psychiatric Nursing, and a Diploma in Public Health from Medicare Health Professionals College.
She further argued that her nursing qualification was recognised under the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions (Benchmarks for Verifying, Determining and Recognising Academic Qualifications as a Person Holding a Minimum Qualification of Advanced Level or its Equivalent) Notice, 2015.
The Electoral Commission also defended her nomination, maintaining that Nankwanga possessed qualifications above Advanced Level standard. However, Justice Kinobe rejected the respondents’ preliminary objection that the dispute was a pre-election matter which should have been conclusively handled by the Electoral Commission before polling.
The court found that Mutesi’s agent, Byakuno Majidu, had formally complained to the Electoral Commission about Nankwanga’s nomination, but the Commission failed to determine the complaint. Although the Commission said the complainant did not attend a hearing scheduled for January 12, 2026, the judge held that this did not absolve it of its statutory duty to investigate and decide the matter.
“The complainant could not appeal against a decision that had never been made,” the judge observed, finding that the unresolved complaint gave the High Court jurisdiction to hear the petition.
In assessing Nankwanga’s qualifications, the court relied on Article 80(1)(c) of the Constitution and Section 4 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, both of which require parliamentary candidates to have completed at least Advanced Level education or its equivalent.
Justice Kinobe noted that while the 2015 legal notice recognises certain nursing qualifications as equivalent to Advanced Level, candidates relying on them must obtain formal recognition from NCHE where the law requires it. The court found that Nankwanga had not submitted an NCHE certificate of equivalence for her Certificate in Mental Health Nursing at the time of nomination.
On the Diploma in Public Health, evidence showed that Nankwanga initially submitted documents describing the qualification as a Post Basic Diploma in Public Health. David Kansiime, the principal of Medicare Health Professionals College, testified that Nankwanga later asked the institution to correct the documents to read “Diploma in Public Health.”
The college received the request on December 3, 2025, and responded on January 5, 2026, indicating that the corrections would be made. But the court noted that nominations had taken place on October 22 and 23, 2025, months before the corrected documents were issued. It also relied on correspondence from NCHE confirming that the Post Basic Diploma in Public Health presented during nomination was not among the programmes accredited by the council.
Justice Kinobe held that a candidate must possess and present the required qualifications at the time of nomination. Later corrections or additional documents, he ruled, cannot cure an invalid nomination retrospectively.
The judge concluded that Nankwanga had failed to establish that she held the required academic qualifications when she was nominated and was therefore ineligible for election as Woman MP for Bugweri District.
On the remedy, the court invoked Section 82(6) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, which empowers it to declare another candidate duly elected where the declared winner was not validly elected. After excluding Nankwanga’s 15,151 votes, the court found that Mutesi, with 13,683 votes, had secured the highest number of valid votes, ahead of Walukamba’s 10,767.
Justice Kinobe therefore set aside Nankwanga’s election and declared Mutesi the duly elected Woman Member of Parliament for Bugweri District, declining to order a fresh election. The petition was allowed, with Nankwanga and the Electoral Commission ordered to share the costs equally.
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